Recent Publications

Aug 31, 2021

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I stopped by the post office on my way to the newsroom of the Washington, DC–based newspaper where I worked as an editorial writer. I wanted to mail a postcard of the World Trade Center, where I had just been for an interview with a foreign dignitary a few days before. “This no longer exists,” the postal employee said as he looked at the postcard I had shoved into his hand. “Word is, next plane is headed for the Capitol,” he said, cranking up the radio. A few short minutes later, I watched plumes of smoke from the Pentagon clog up the horizon as I drove ...

Aug 31, 2021

By Colonel Matthew W. Lawrence

The 9/11 attacks’ effects on the United States and its foreign policies cannot be understated. The United States, in essence, lost its innocence that day and has never been the same. The attacks spurred changes in the way the United States handles national security, secures air transportation, and shares intelligence. The attacks also resulted in, directly and indirectly, two major armed conflicts that lasted the next two decades. These conflicts served as the catalyst for the most significant strategic shift in the US Army Reserve’s history—the organization’s transformation from ...

Aug 31, 2021

By Dr. Christopher J. Bolan

The September 11 attacks represented a major strategic shock to US foreign policy in the Middle East. Whereas much of US foreign policy during the Cold War understandably focused on the global threats posed by the Soviet Union and China, these attacks orchestrated by Osama bin Laden from a hideout in Afghanistan propelled both the Middle East and terrorism to the center stage of US foreign policy making. The subsequent Afghanistan War and Iraq War were some of the longest (and least satisfying) military campaigns in US history. After 20 years of military and economic investment in the region...

Aug 30, 2021

By Dr. C. Anthony Pfaff

The coordinated terrorist attacks on 9/11 took the lives of almost 3,000 people, destroyed $55 billion worth of infrastructure, and caused $123 billion in other economic impact. Perhaps just as tragically, the attacks destroyed Americans’ sense of security. Though the United States had experienced terrorist attacks before, the scale of the September 11 attacks transformed acts previously considered to be criminal to acts of war. Indeed, the Pearl Harbor attack, which led to the United States’ direct involvement in World War II, resulted in 2,403 persons killed, of whom 68 were civilians. When compared to ...

Aug 27, 2021

By Dr. John R. Deni

The American national security establishment is shifting from nation building to addressing the challenge of rising great powers, from a near obsession with the United States Central Command geographic area of responsibility to an emphasis on the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Sound familiar? This shift both reflects the trajectory of US policy today and echoes where the United States wanted to go 20 years ago, before the September 11 attacks derailed Washington’s intentions. As the United States embarks on a new national security approach, the nation would do well to remember events have a way of undermining the best-laid plans and strategies.

Aug 17, 2021

Parameters Summer 2021Download the Full IssueIn Focus: "Senior Leader Dissent", Conrad C. Crane;

Jul 23, 2021

By Roy Kamphausen

The 27th annual People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Conference—“The People in the PLA” 2.0—revisited a

Jun 1, 2021

By Robert E. Hamilton

Robert E. Hamilton, 2021, the Foreign Policy Research InstituteSeptember 2021 marks the sixth

Apr 8, 2021

Russian-Turkish Relations and Their Implications for the West Robert E. Hamilton, 2021, the Foreign

Feb 2, 2021

By Dr. Leonard Wong, Dr. Stephen J. Gerras

Authors: Dr. Leonard Wong, Dr. Stephen J. Gerras Previous studies analyzing disability compensation